Institutions
• Much of political science is interested in
political institutions (institutionalist,
neoinstitutionalist, rational choice)
• Institutions affect behavior by influencing
incentives and constraints
• Institutions are often defined as the “rules of
the game”
• Democracy is not just an idea, it is a set of
institutions
Pathologies of our political
Institutions
• Create barriers for representation
• Choke points for women and minorities
– Primary system
– Incumbency advantage
– Size of Congress
– Large, expensive districts to run in
– Method of electing representatives (SMPD)
Primary System
Who decides who will represent the political party?
Party elites or voters?
Having a primary may seem more democratic, but
many democracies leave the decision to party
elites.
Those systems (e.g., Sweden) often have better
representation of minorities and women.
Primaries, although open, act as choke points.
Congress: Large Districts/Few Seats
• Germany, Brazil, Russia, Japan, Mexico, France, Italy,
UK, Poland, all have more members even though they
have smaller populations
• Prior to 1915, the House grew in tandem with the
population
• Only India (a nation of over 1 billion people) has more
constituents per representative than the U.S.
• Has the U.S. become the second most “underrepresentative” democracy in the world?
• Restricting the size of Congress can act as another choke
point
Incumbency Advantage
• 95%+ members of the HR get reelected
• Term limits:
– Creates more “open” seats, therefore increases electoral
competitions
– Women and Minorities have found it easier to get
elected (more open seats)
ELECTING REPRESENTATIVES
Team Ticket Ballot:
-Vote for Party, not candidate
-Party/Issue centered campaigns
-Easier to vote, less information required
-Women and Minorities may find it
easier to get elected
Proportional Representation
What would need to be done?: Multiple members per
district (at least 3)
Types of PR:
Mixed Member Proportional (SMPD & PR seats)
Single Transferable Vote (rank order)
Cumulative voting (multiple votes)
Bowler and Donovan - Cumulative Voting
What is cumulative voting?
• Why would we want to adopt it?
• increase minority representation
• more likely to represent a voters multiple
preferences
Cumulative Voting
• Increase turnout
• Political efficacy
• Can get rid of local districts and have atlarge elections without harming minorities
• Racial gerrymandering becomes
unnecessary
• Doesn't really work with single member
districts so would require some adjustment
Cumulative Voting
• Why might we not want it?
• complicated
• doesn’t always lead to more minority
representatives (Latinos?)
• Doesn't really work with single member
districts so would require some adjustment
• But changing SMPD doesn’t require
constitutional amendment
Redistricting
• Grofman deals with 3 issues related to
redistricting:
– 1. how to operationalize "realistic opportunity
to elect candidates of choice,”
– 2. changing census categories,
– 3. how to count minorities
Redistricting
• Why the increase in majority-minority
districts?
– 1. computer map making ability
– 2. more minority members already in
legislators ready to support the issue
– 3. Republicans supporting the idea
– 4. aggressive enforcement of the voting rights
act by the DOJ
Redistricting
1. How do we operationalize "realistic
opportunity" (Voting Rights Act section 2)
– Effects-tests (at-large vs. multi-member)
– historic trends (what size is needed?)
– taking into account voter turnout not just size
– observing white cross-over voting
How should we count
1. Count or Sampling
– statistical sampling is not perfect; how to choose
method, weighting system? If we choose one prior
to the count we might find that a different formula
is better. Perception of manipulation.
– For redistricting; the points are moot; more people
doesn't mean more voters; generally concentrated
in areas where they will make no difference
(already heavily minority districts).
– Grofman is really not convinced it will make a
difference: rounding rules; some states with large
minority groups are not controlled by democrats.
Midterm
• Essay Exam
• Writing 101
• Clarity
• Organization
– Introductory paragraph
– Body (each point/argument is a paragraph)
– Concluding paragraph
• Paragraphs should have structure
– Introduction, body, conclusion
Midterm
• Cite readings
– (Banducci, Donovan, Karp, p. ?)
• Length?
– Cover main points
• 5 paragraph minimum
– paragraphs should have about 5 sentences
• Clear, concise, organized, well-cited essays
will get higher grades than long-winded,
unorganized essays with few cites.